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Fire Destroyed Tappans' New York Business

Dan Graves, MSL

On this day, December 16, 1835, Lewis Tappan saw fire destroy
much of the business he shared with his brother on New York City's Pearl
Street. The Tappans' situation worsened with the 1836 financial
collapse. Demands from British creditors increased, and southern
customers began taking their business elsewhere because the Tappans
urged the abolition of slavery. The company owed over $1,100,000 (a far
greater sum in that day than now). Many evangelical Christians could not
believe that such a disaster could befall the Tappans: they had done so
much good for others. The Tappans, however, did not complain, but
tightened their belts and moved into a boarding house. They put all
their know-how and contacts to work and repaid all of their debts--with
interest--in 18 months.

Reared in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1786, Lewis was not always
evangelical, although his parents were. In 1804, when Lewis was fifteen,
he left home for Boston with eight dollars in his pocket and the small
Bible his father had given him. In the strange city, Lewis attended
William Ellery Channing's Federal Street Church, a center of
Unitarianism. Channing's warmth drew many of Boston's elite.
Unitarianism was good for business, and to Lewis seemed more natural and
cosmopolitan than the Christianity of his parents. But Unitarians denied
the divinity of Christ.

Fortunately for Lewis, the Rev. Lyman Beecher moved to Boston to
battle Unitarianism. Beecher emphasized God's salvation through a
Redeemer. Lewis began attending prayer meetings. He questioned Beecher
about the Trinity. Beecher explained that the Scriptures taught the
existence of three divine intelligences and that these somehow were
one.

Searching his Bible, Lewis realized that Unitarians prayed too
little, gave too little to charity, and followed the world's fashions.
They neglected the beauty and mystery of God and said little about
repentance. Lewis fell to his knees. "I felt a constraining influence to
address God in three persons, and then pray to Jesus. I was unwilling to
rise until the scales had fallen from my eyes."

Lewis accepted an offer to enter business with his brother Arthur in
New York City. Lewis managed daily operations, supervising clerks and
bookkeepers, interviewing new employees, stocking samples, and
overseeing shipping. Though Arthur Tappan & Co. made over a million
dollars annually, the Tappan brothers lived modestly. They believed
their money was entrusted to them by God to do good with.

Numerous volunteer associations were spreading Christian truth among
the masses; Arthur and Lewis were actively involved with many of them:
the American Bible Society, the American Tract Society, the American
Home Missionary Society, the American Education Society, the American
Temperance Society, the American Sunday School Union, the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and the American Seaman's Friend
Society. The brothers helped build Broadway Tabernacle for evangelist
Charles Finney and heavily supported the newly-formed Oberlin College,
open to blacks and whites alike.

Lewis suffered for his convictions. Because he spoke out strongly
against slavery and for racial equality, pro-slavery mobs burned his
home to the ground in 1834. However, whether it was in business or in
social reform, Lewis Tappan saw God as his companion in all he did. He
was often unpopular, but his commitment to use his wealth for the good
of others never faltered.